


lemonade

by OverTheMoonShine



Category: Monsta X (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Middle School, Angst, Coming of Age, Domestic Violence, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Hyungwon is trying his best, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-28
Updated: 2019-01-13
Packaged: 2019-08-08 22:43:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 17,849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16438235
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OverTheMoonShine/pseuds/OverTheMoonShine
Summary: The first time Minhyuk shows up at his doorstep, Hyungwon doesn’t quite know what to say.





	1. convenience store ramyeon

The first time Minhyuk shows up at his doorstep, Hyungwon doesn’t quite know what to say. To be honest, it isn’t like the two are good friends - he can probably count on two hands, the number of times they’ve had a conversation outside of class. So he’s surprised, to say the least, when he opens his door at 10.15pm to a smiling Minhyuk.

As much as this visit is a little unexpected, it’s the boy’s physical state that throws him off. There’s a long cut down the side of Minhyuk’s face, still bright red and fresh. It’s a thin strip, bleeding a little, the blood smudged around the edges, as if someone had hastily dabbed at it.

“Hello! Are you free right now?” Minhyuk waves, tilting his head to the side.

To his credit, Hyungwon takes it in his stride, “Do you want to come in?”

“That’d be nice,” Minhyuk replies pleasantly. Hyungwon can’t help but notice the boy wincing as he bends down to take off his shoes.

It’s times like these that Hyungwon is glad that both his parents are working late tonight. He’s not sure what they would say if they saw Minhyuk. Although, perhaps, it may have been better if they were around, given that the reason they’re both working late is because they’ve been put on the same ER shift at Gwangju Hospital.

It isn’t something that commonly happens, since his parents aren’t quite keen on letting their 13 year old son be alone at home, but every two weeks, Hyungwon gets the house to himself. He doesn’t mind, he likes the quiet at home when he’s the only person around. Sometimes, he leaves all the lights in the house off and lies on the floor, pretends as if he’s the only person left in the whole entire world.

But right now, there’s a Minhyuk in front of him, looking slightly sheepish in the light of his living room, in his long baggy track pants and track jacket. There’s a drip of blood swelling at the bottom of the cut, and Hyungwon reaches to wipe it away, but halfway through the motion, his arm lifted in the air, he stops himself. Instead, he asks, “Water?”

If Minhyuk notices his hesitation or the half-movement, he doesn’t make any reference to it. “Water’s good,” he answers, in the same cheerful tone.

Hyungwon nods, and pads over to the kitchen. There’s been a heat wave recently, and even though it’s only nearing the end of Spring, the night is hot and humid. He can feel sweat starting to collect at the back of his neck.

As he rinses out two glasses under the sink and fills them with water from the refrigerator, he suddenly realises that for all the months that they’ve been in the same class together, he’s never seen Minhyuk out of a jacket. Not even during Physical Education, when they’re running under the sweltering heat, the boy always has on the school’s track jacket.

And while the situation is starting to dawn upon him, why exactly Minhyuk may be bleeding and bruised in his house, he doesn’t want to make any wild conjectures until he knows all the facts. Besides, real life isn’t as dramatic as what all those YA novels (a secret guilty pleasure, that he’ll take to his grave) make it out to be. After all, his parents always did say that he had a flair for dramatics.

The glasses are cool against his fingertips when he carries them out to the living room. Minhyuk is still standing in the middle of the room, and he gives Hyungwon a cheery wave when he returns. “You can take a seat, you know?” Hyungwon says dryly, raising an eyebrow - then immediately regrets his sarcastic tone, given the circumstances of this meeting.

Minhyuk shrugs, unbothered, “Seemed rude if I didn’t wait.”

“Well, I’m here now,” Hyungwon answers, a completely unnecessary reply that he cringes at. This is probably why he only has one person in the world he can safely call his friend.

“I noticed,” there’s an amused expression on Minhyuk’s face, and Hyungwon wonders if he’s deliberately trying to draw out this non-conversation for as long as he can.

“Great.”

“Yet, it seems like we’re both still standing on the ceremony,” Minhyuk all but sings, and Hyungwon lets out a laugh, the awkward atmosphere dissipating. That’s something that he’s always admired about Minhyuk. He’s seen the older boy in action in class, changing the tense mood between warring classmates with just a few simple words and a sunny smile, so that somehow or other, everyone’s suddenly laughing together and getting along, when five minutes ago, they were trading insults and threats.

“Take a seat then,” Hyungwon says, gesturing to the couch behind them, and Minhyuk immediately flops down, boneless on the cushions. He doesn’t miss, though, the flash of pain across the older boy’s face as he stretches out on the couch, how for a split second, he seems to curl inwards in reaction to whatever is hurting him.

There isn’t much space left on the sofa, but that’s fine, since there are other things that Hyungwon needs to do first. Number one being to fetch the first-aid kit his parents regularly re-stocks to ensure everything is still way before their expiry date, number two a small pail of water so Minhyuk doesn’t have to move. “Be right back,” he mumbles, which the other boy acknowledges with a lazy wave.

When he returns, Minhyuk is still sprawled across the sofa, his eyes closed. For a second, Hyungwon thinks he’s dead and a chill runs through his spine, before he sees the boy’s chest rise as he inhales. _You’re such a dumbass_ , he tells himself. Minhyuk’s taken up all the space on the sofa, so he sits on the floor beside him, placing the first-aid kit on his lap to rifle through its contents. He steals a glance at the cut on Minhyuk’s face, it doesn’t look too deep and it’s no longer oozing, but it probably wouldn’t hurt to swab a little antiseptic over it, maybe put a plaster just in case.

Should he wake Minhyuk up?

Perhaps that’d be the more polite thing to do, but the boy looks fast asleep and Hyungwon can’t bring himself to wake him. Well, it’ll be difficult to sleep through this, so he decides to pass on the warning. He dips a clean piece of cotton wool in the pail of water, and turns to Minhyuk. This is only as uncomfortable as your mind makes it to be, he steels himself, takes a deep breath, as if he’s the one injured and bleeding on the couch, then presses the wet cotton wool against the cut.

Minhyuk flinches, his hand coming up to swat Hyungwon away, but his hit is feeble and Hyungwon continues cleaning the cut anyway. “S’cold,” he says, pouting.

“I’ll finish this faster if you stop disturbing me,” Hyungwon replies, leaning in closer to examine the cut. It looks alright, and he thinks he’s done a pretty decent job at washing it out, given the circumstances (ie. a seemingly immobile Minhyuk he doesn’t think he can haul to the bathroom). He turns to the first-aid kid and takes out the antiseptic cream. “I think you should get up for this part.”

“Lemme sleep,” Minhyuk whines, but all the same, he rolls over to his side and opens his eyes, squinting hard at Hyungwon. It’s hard not to laugh because from this angle, with his face squashed to the side, Minhyuk looks a little like his uncle’s pug whenever he doesn’t get his dinner on time, but Hyungwon keeps it in, trying to concentrate on the fact that he still has no idea how his classmate’s ended up on his doorstep in such a questionable condition.

“You know the antiseptic is going to sting, right?” he says instead, gesturing for Minhyuk to sit up.

“This playing doctor thing isn’t as fun as everyone says it is,” the other boy grumbles, as he grouchily gets up and plops himself down on the floor next to Hyungwon. He scoots close enough so that his knees are pressing, not uncomfortably, against Hyungwon’s, and leans in. “Okay, come on, Dr Wonwonnie.”

Hyungwon doesn’t know why his face heats up at the boy’s proximity, and so ducks his head down to look at the antiseptic cream he’s holding. Carefully, he squeezes a generous amount on another piece of cotton wool, before looking back up at Minhyuk. He doesn’t expect Minhyuk to be watching so closely, and he’s sure he must look like a tomato right now, or like those lanterns outside Chinese restaurants. You could probably even cook an egg on his forehead and serve it to diners.

“Anytime now,” Minhyuk says, his tone teasing, as if sensing Hyungwon’s hesitation.

Because he doesn’t know quite what to reply, Hyungwon slaps the cotton wool onto Minhyuk’s face, and ends up exerting a little too much force in his panic because the other boy jolts up and yelps in pain and surprise, but surprisingly remains still until Hyungwon’s made sure he’s applied the cream thoroughly over the cut.

“Do you want me to put dressing over it too?” he asks, eyeing the cut. It doesn’t look deep enough to warrant such a measure, but all his parents’ horror stories of seeing badly infected wounds in the ER have made him extremely paranoid.

Minhyuk shakes his head, and Hyungwon doesn’t understand how he still looks so cheerful, even though everything else about him seems to say that he’s just come out of a fight. Somehow, he always looks like he’s in on a joke that only he knows, as if he’s waiting for everyone else to finally catch up.

“So,” Hyungwon starts, trying to fill the silence between the two. It’s not uncomfortable per se, but he’s not entirely sure what behaviour would be appropriate for such a situation. “Are you going to tell me what happened?”

“Mmmm I don’t really feel like it,” Minhyuk answers, turning away slightly. For the first time in the evening, his smile falters for a moment, and Hyungwon isn’t sure if he’s imagining the slight frown on his face.

Even so, he knows he’s asked the wrong question, he probably shouldn’t have tried to pry. “Alright then.”

“I should probably get home anyway,” Minhyuk says suddenly. This time, Hyungwon knows he isn’t imagining the boy’s wince as he pulls himself up. “Your parents will be back soon, won’t they?”

“You - you can stay if you want,” Hyungwon says.

“Are you propositioning me?” Minhyuk gasps, his hand coming up to his mouth, eyes widening.

Hyungwon flushes red, and nearly trips as he stumbles backwards, “No!”

“You’re cute when you blush.”

Hyungwon lets out a very undignified squawk, which he attempts to cover up as a coughing fit, but Minhyuk bursts out into laughter. His entire face lights up with the sound, chasing away the shadows from moments ago. He doesn’t know how Minhyuk does it, how he changes the mood of any encounter so easily and swiftly, but Hyungwon is dazzled, slightly, by the brilliance of his laughter, how it seems to warm the entire room.

“I’ll see you in school tomorrow!” Minhyuk exclaims, breaking Hyungwon out of his daze. He’s already out the door, slipping his shoes back on. And before Hyungwon can think of answering, he’s turned away, dashing off.

He probably doesn’t hear Hyungwon’s reply, as he runs off into the night, disappearing around the corner where the main street begins, “See you.”

Standing in the doorway, Hyungwon blinks hard, trying to decide if the entire encounter had just been a figment of his imagination. If it weren’t for the fact that the first-aid kid is still lying on his living room floor, he may very well have convinced himself it must have been. There are no other words to describe the very brief, very strange past 45 minutes, and it may be an over-exaggeration, but there are spots dancing in the field of his vision, as if he’d looked into the Sun for too long.

It’s only later on, when he’s in bed, his parents still out on their shift, that Hyungwon remembers, he never did find out how Minhyuk ended up with the cut on his face.

-

The second time Minhyuk appears at his door, it’s a few weeks later and Hyungwon’s almost put the incident out of his mind.

Nothing’s changed much in school, except now that whenever Minhyuk sees him in the corridors, or if there’s time before class starts and Minhyuk isn’t late as usual, he makes sure to bound over and either offer Hyungwon a high-five or enthusiastically say something to the effect of Have a great day Wonwonnie! before darting off again.

“I tripped and fell when I was on the way to the convenience store to buy ramyeon,” Minhyuk laughs, when their classmates ask about the cut. His hands move animatedly to demonstrate how because they were full with the grocery bags, he couldn’t brace himself as he was falling, leading to the long gash along his face. “Ah, it’s okay, I need to give everyone else a chance to be the most handsome person in this room right?”

Even though the boy seems as cheerful as ever, Hyungwon finds himself watching Minhyuk closer than usual. He’s still always in a jacket, switching it up between the school blazer (which honestly, everyone hated to wear because the material itched like crazy - but he supposes Minhyuk wearing this shouldn’t be anything out of the ordinary since it technically is part of the school uniform) and the track jacket (which he still wore religiously during PE lessons, even when the weather’s hot and sticky).

“Hi Wonwonnie,” Minhyuk says, the second time, when Hyungwon opens the door at 11.17pm to find him in his doorway.

Honestly, Hyungwon had been about to turn in, after an extremely tiring day of lessons at school, and then at the hagwon. Hyunwoo hyung had been right to warn him of how different middle school would be from primary school, but at least his parents weren’t the sort to be overly concerned with his studies. Well, not at the moment anyway.

“Is it alright if I come in?”

“Did you trip and fall while buying ramyeon again?” Hyungwon asks dryly, eyeing the large bruise that has blossomed across Minhyuk’s jaw. It’s a large purplish red smudge, made douby obvious by the contrast against the boy’s fair skin. However that happened, the impact must have been hard, because Hyungwon can see that the area’s swelled up.

Minhyuk chuckles, his smile never faltering as he shrugs, “Can you believe how clumsy I am?”

“I’m not an idiot,” Hyungwon shoots back, his exhaustion winning over his (non-existent) ability to be tactful. “Did someone hit you?”

Minhyuk’s eyes harden, and Hyungwon is vaguely impressed by how he’s still smiling, even as he says, his tone noticeably colder, “I told you, I fell.”

Hyungwon snorts, folding his arms, “I’m sure you did. Just like how you fell the last time.”

“I can take a hint, thank you for your time Hyungwon-ssi,” Minhyuk answers, suddenly formal, turning to leave.

Panicking because that’s definitely not how he’d expected the conversation to end, and especially since he hadn’t intended to turn Minhyuk away in the first place, Hyungwon lunges forward to grab Minhyuk by the arm, pulling him back hard in his haste to stop him from going. The boy lets out a loud hiss of pain, tensing up at Hyungwon’s grip. The thought that Minhyuk could be injured in other areas too, probably would be bruised up on other body parts, crosses Hyungwon’s mind, and he quickly lets go.

“No, I’m sorry, I believe you. Do you want to come in?”

Minhyuk pauses for a moment, and Hyungwon wonders what’s running through his mind, if he should have just let the older boy go off anyway. Then he turns around, and his stony expression has melted into a softer smile, “Okay, Dr Wonnie.”

Under the living room light, the bruise is darker, more violent. There’s no way this could have been from a fall, no matter how distracted one may be by delicious convenience store ramyeon. Hyungwon feels physically ill, as he tries not to think about how Minhyuk may have gotten it. Resisting the urge to ask again, afraid that he would scare the other boy off, he just passes Minhyuk a pack of frozen vegetables from the freezer, “Icing it will help to reduce the swelling, especially if it’s new.”

The boy winces when he presses the pack to is jaw, but doesn’t say anything. Hyungwon doesn’t miss how gingerly he lowers himself to the couch, “Are you hurt anywhere else?”

“Nah, what do you think I am - a klutz?” Minhyuk waves off Hyungwon’s concern, adjusting his grip on the pack of vegetables as he does.

“Well, based on what you keep telling everyone - “ Hyungwon stops himself from saying anything more, recalling how sarcasm didn’t go off too well just moments before.

Minhyuk only laughs, “You seem all quiet and shy when you’re in school. But you’re really full of all these sharp mean quips on the inside, aren’t you?”

“I’m assuming that’s a compliment.”

“Only of the highest kind, of course,” Minhyuk winks, and pats the space on the couch next to him. In typical Hyungwon fashion, he’d been standing in the middle room, wondering if it was fine if he were to sit next to the older boy. A terribly silly train of thought given that this is, after all, his house, and he should feel comfortable sitting anywhere he wants.

The bruise looks worse up close, sitting next to Minhyuk, so before he can accidentally blurt out the question of So really, how did you get this?, Hyungwon says, “I hope the ramyeon was worth it.”

Minhyuk frowns, as if momentarily confused by Hyungwon’s statement, before remembering what he’d said before. He nods enthusiastically, “Yea, yea totally, it was the most delicious ramyeon in the world. Do you know that brand, the one with the cute angry chicken on it? That’s the one I always buy.”

Before the older boy goes into a ramble about the types of ramyeon he prefers (Hyungwon has seen him do this multiple times in school, particularly when a teacher asks after the previous injury), he quickly cuts in, “I know we’re not really friends or anything - “

“That’s right, you’re more like my cute on-call doctor.”

“R - right. But you know, if there’s anything, you can tell me right?” It’s hard, but he forces himself to look straight at Minhyuk, hoping that it’d convey his sincerity.

“Don’t worry so much, Wonnie,” Minhyuk says, meeting Hyungwon’s gaze. His eyes are warm, and Hyungwon finds it difficult to believe that anyone would ever want to hurt him. Maybe Minhyuk isn’t lying, maybe he’s really just incredibly clumsy, and each time he’s shown up’s just been the product of a silly accident.

“I’ll just be more careful next time.”

-

Minhyuk doesn’t show up the next day at school, and each time he looks at the older boy’s empty seat, Hyungwon feels like he’s about to throw up. Should he tell the teachers about how Minhyuk was last night? But that feels akin to betraying Minhyuk somehow, and maybe it’s just a coincidence that he’s not around today. There are so many other possible, more plausible, reasons for his absence at school.

Nevertheless, he’s jittery the whole day, unable to pay attention to anything that’s being taught in class. His desk-neighbour shoots him dirty looks, as he bounces his leg up and down, trying to get rid of the nervous energy but all he can think about is the dark bruise on Minhyuk’s jaw. How much like a black hole it looked like, swallowing all the light around it.

As soon as the school bell rings, Hyungwon dashes out of class, slipping out his phone to check the way to get to Minhyuk’s home from school. As part of improving parent-teacher communication,at the start of the year, the school had printed out a list of home addresses and numbers of each student for everyone in class. According to Naver, Minhyuk is 15 minutes away from school by bus, and 25 minutes away from Hyungwon’s home.

Seated on the bus, drumming his fingers anxiously on his lap, Hyungwon realises he doesn’t know how Minhyuk had gotten home the two times he’s visited. The particular bus service that runs from his house to Minhyuk’s doesn’t operate past 11pm, and Minhyuk had left his house after that both times.

Even taking into account the detours that the bus takes, it’s about 5 kilometers between their two homes, and Hyungwon frowns, wondering if Minhyuk had ended up walking home both times. No matter how safe the streets of Gwangju are supposedly, he doesn’t particularly like the thought of Minhyuk walking home alone that late at night. This is, perhaps, another query on the list of questions he supposes he isn’t allowed to ask Minhyuk about.

Two stops more, Hyungwon gets up from his seat to make his way to the door first. Thankfully, the bus isn’t too crowded, so there’s no chance of him missing the stop, even if he doesn’t manage to find the words to ask the other commuters to move aside. Rush hours are always a nightmare, and he’s missed his stop too many times to count.

He gets off the bus with little trouble, consulting Naver again on the route.. As he walks, Hyungwon suddenly realises how strange it may be if he just turns up at Minhyuk’s home, especially if Minhyuk had missed school for an entirely innocent reason. Would he even be at home anyway? And would he think Hyungwon was weird for coming by?

Come on Chae, don’t be a wuss, he shakes his head, wills himself to continue towards the apartment, forces himself not to stop as he climbs the stairs up to the 5th floor, make his way down the corridor to #05-07. You’re here already, what are you waiting for?

It takes five minutes for Hyungwon to muster up the courage to ring the doorbell.

Half a minute passes without anyone answering the door, and Hyungwon’s starting to feel foolish for making the trip. At least there’s a straight bus back, and it’s not like he had anything else to do this afternoon anyway, Hyungwon’s about to leave when the door flies open -

“Oh! You do house calls now, do you?” Minhyuk says, sounding entirely unsurprised to see Hyungwon.

Hyungwon hesitates, his eyes flicking to Minhyuk’s jaw. The bruise has turned a darker shade of purple overnight, and there are now greenish tints around the edges. Honestly, he can’t blame Minhyuk for staying out of school today, he would too if he had to explain away something like that. Perhaps it’s a good thing that it’s a Friday, and Minhyuk would have the weekend ahead to heal. “You didn’t show up, so I was worried,” he says, then cringes at how lame that sounds.

“Awww you’re really such a cutie,” Minhyuk cooes. “As you can see, I’m perfectly fine though.”

From Hyungwon’s perspective, perfectly fine is debatable. Even though he’s making a conscious effort not to, his eyes are drawn to the bruise. If Minhyuk notices his blatant staring (and he must have, even a blind person would), he doesn’t say anything.

“Here, this for you, I should have passed it to you yesterday,” Hyungwon pulls out a tube of herbal cream his parents always used on bruises from his back-pack, trying to cover up his staring. It’s always at moments like this that he wishes he were born a different person, maybe someone with better people skills. Although that would honestly just be anyone else in the world. “It should help with the colouring.”

“You really are my own personal doctor, aren’t you?” Minhyuk says, plucking the tube from Hyungwon’s hands. He’s leaning against the doorframe, so that Hyungwon can’t really see into his house. “Thank you Wonnie.”

“Cool, no problem,” Hyungwon mumbles, shoving his hands into his pockets. Although Minhyuk’s been nothing but friendly, Hyungwon gets the sense that perhaps dropping by wasn’t the best idea. Maybe Minhyuk hadn’t wanted to be disturbed at all, and he was just being creepy by checking up on him. His throat is suddenly dry at the thought of how silly he must seem to the older boy, and he swallows hard, trying to think of how he could explain why he was concerned. You weren’t in school and I was scared that maybe you were too injured to come.

“Aah, I would invite you in, but it’s really messy right now,” Minhyuk says, oblivious to his internal monologue. He’s stepping out of his house, quickly pulling the door closed behind him. “I’ll walk you to the bus stop, okay?”

“Sure, sure,” Hyungwon has to try twice, because the first sure comes out a little too high-pitched and squeaky for his liking. “But it’s no problem at all if you’re busy.”

Before Hyungwon can move, Minhyuk loops his arm through Hyungwon’s, pulling the boy closer to him. Their shoulders bump together, and Minhyuk laughs, a sound that both fills Hyungwon with a strange sense of comfort (strange because he doesn’t know why) yet sends a shiver through him. “It’s just an excuse so I can spend more time with you,” he says, leaning in close enough so Hyungwon can feel the words as breath on his neck.

“Oh,” the tips of his ears are burning bright red, and he knows he’s tense in Minhyuk’s grip but the other boy doesn’t seem to notice or is kind enough not to mention anything about it.

They walk in silence to the bus stop, Hyungwon too conscious of their proximity to be able to come up with any conversation topic. He keeps his eyes trained straight ahead on the path in front of them, afraid that eye contact would give his discomfort away, not that it isn’t immediately obvious anyway.

When they reach the bus stop, he sneaks a look at Minhyuk, but the boy doesn’t seem bothered by their silence. He has a pensive expression on his face - but he doesn’t seem sad, not exactly. Their arms are still looped together, but Minhyuk’s hold has loosened, his hand resting lightly on Hyungwon’s wrist.

They still haven’t spoken a single word when Hyungwon’s bus pulls up, but somehow the silence has shifted to a more comfortable one. He’s not too sure what to say to Minhyuk when the boy lets go of him: _I’m sorry for being a terrible conversationalist, you probably wish you went to a different classmate’s house, don’t you?_ Or _We both know you’re lying about the bruise, can you tell me how you really got it?_ Both are equally terrible options, but Minhyuk spares him the trouble of deciding.

“Thank you for coming Wonnie,” Minhyuk says, smiling. It’s a different smile from the one he wears in school, it’s a smile that’s more muted, almost tired, although Hyungwon doesn’t know if he’s reading too much into it as he’s wont to dol. “I didn’t realise it, but I really needed it.”

“Anytime, I’m your on-call doctor right?” Hyungwon replies, the words slipping out of his mouth before he can think it through. To save himself the embarrassment of seeing Minhyuk’s response, he practically leaps onto the bus.

“I’ll see you soon!” Minhyuk calls out as the bus door closes. He’s still there, waving with both hands, when the bus pulls out of the stop.

The whole ride back, Hyungwon doesn’t know why but the area above his wrist where Minhyuk had touched feels slightly warmer than anywhere else.

-

Minhyuk returns to school the following Monday. Although the bruise has faded to a lighter shade of purple and the swelling has gone down, it’s still violent-looking enough that it’s impossible to cover up. “I was playing goalie while playing soccer with my cousin, and he kicked the ball straight into my face,” Hyungwon overhears Minhyuk telling worried classmates, whose gazes are horrified when they first see it.

He meets Hyungwon’s eyes in the middle of this, and Hyungwon raises his eyebrows slightly, but Minhyuk’s expression doesn’t change as he turns back to his curious audience, jumping off the desk he had been sitting on, to demonstrate the exact trajectory of the soccer ball as it flew through the air and smacked him at Mach-1 speed across his jaw. “At least I saved the goal, and I’m telling you, it was some World Cup level save. Maybe I should drop out of school and train to be a soccer player instead.”

Hyungwon keeps his head down, stares at the scratches made by bored students before on the top of his desk, for the duration of Minhyuk’s story, and tries to keep his breathing steady. He doesn’t know why he’s the one feeling guilty when Minhyuk’s the one spinning stories, but he feels complicit in the lie.

“My cousin stayed over the weekend, but he’s back in Seoul now,” Minhyuk finishes, and pouts at one of the girls who still looks like she’s about to burst into tears whenever she looks at the bruise. “Don’t worry, I’m really okay. If you look like that, you’re going to make me want to cry too!”

For the first time in his life, Hyungwon is glad when class starts because he doesn’t think he can keep quiet the more he hears Minhyuk talk about his cousin and the imaginary soccer match and the non-existent World Cup-worthy save. So he tries to shut it all out of his mind, and focuses his attention on the whiteboard in front of him, where the teacher’s already writing down mathematic equations that are too complicated to be understood so early in the morning.

Halfway through the lesson, a paper note lands on Hyungwon’s desk, jolting him out of his math-induced stupor.

_I really do like ramyeon though. Do you want to get some after school? - Minhyuk_

Hyungwon looks up to see Minhyuk watching him carefully. There’s this intensity in his gaze that makes Hyungwon’s breath catch, so he ducks his head down to read the note again.

Technically, Hyungwon has already made plans after school, he’s supposed to meet up with his hyung and check out a dance studio that he’d just started training at. But he supposes that could wait for another day, sorry Hyunwoo hyung.

Minhyuk’s still turned towards him when Hyungwon looks up, and shoots him a thumbs up. The older boy breaks out into a bright smile, and there are suddenly sun-spots in Hyungwon’s eyes again.

-

“I really wasn’t joking about that ramyeon with the cute chicken on it being my favourite,” Minhyuk says, when the school bell finally rings in the end of the day. “Let’s get some and hang out in the park.”

Hyungwon nods, but remembers he’s yet to disappoint Hyunwoo with the news of his copping out today. The school has a strict No Phones policy during official hours, and Hyungwon’s too much of a chicken to risk getting his phone confiscated to text in between lessons.

“Give me a sec first?” he says, pulling out his handphone, and opening up the conversation with the older boy.

hyung, I’m sorry something came up  
join you next time?

_OK, but that’s what you said last week_   
_Am I not cool enough for you anymore?_

If he didn’t know better, he’d guess that Hyunwoo was angry - but he’s never seen his hyung get even remotely close to being irritated before. Then again, he’s never postponed an outing as many times as he has either. Perhaps there’s just the tiniest part of him that isn’t looking forward to going to the dance studio, no matter how much fun Hyunwoo promises that he’ll have, or how nice he says the people there are.

no!!  
for real this time, i’m hanging out with a friend  
he just asked me out during class today  
i promise for sure, next week

_It’s OK_   
_I am having a proud dad moment_   
_You have friends!_   
_Can you send me a selca as proof?_   
_I need to know who’s the person that’s_   
_managed to charm their way into my Hyungwonnie’s heart_   
_:O_

  
hyung please  
:(

“Who were you texting?” Minhyuk asks later, as they’re strolling out of school. They’ve made a quick stop to first change out of their school uniforms. With the sticky heat, Hyungwon’s glad to be in a t-shirt and bermuda shorts, but he’s entirely unsurprised to see that Minhyuk’s still has a jacket on. It’s a light windbreaker, which is at least significantly more presentable than their school uniform. He doesn’t know how Minhyuk stands the heat, but remembers how skittish Minhyuk had been when he’d shown up at his house, and decides not to ask.

“My hyung, he was my neighbour growing up and we somehow just kept in touch,” Hyungwon answers. The nearest convenience store is just outside the school, but it’s always crowded with sweaty children after school, so they decide to head to the one about 15 minutes away. “We were planning on going out today.”

“You cancelled because of me?” Minhyuk’s a couple of steps in front of him, skipping across the fallen leaves littering the pavement. He spins around to face Hyungwon, wide-eyed.

“It’s no big deal,” Hyungwon shrugs, slightly uncomfortable with Minhyuk’s growing smile, how his eyes seem to start to sparkle. “He says I don’t hang out with my classmates enough anyway.”

“That’s true,” Minhyuk laughs, hooking an arm around Hyungwon’s neck, and steering him so that they’re now walking step in step. It’s an uncomfortable position, especially since Hyungwon is just the slightest bit taller than him. “I think the only person you exchange more than a sentence with everyday is the teacher.”

“Rude,” Hyungwon shoots back, a reflex reaction more than anything else.

“Hey!” Minhyuk shakes Hyungwon, laughing. “There’s the bitchy doctor I missed, I’m sure you can do better than that.”

“You’re incredibly noisy,” Hyungwon can’t help but grin. It’s silly, he knows, but there’s something about Minhyuk that makes it easy for him to speak openly. While it’s an exaggeration to say that he doesn’t talk to anyone at school, it’s undeniable that he’s pretty much the class’ social hermit, second guessing every social interaction he has, right after it happens. It doesn’t help that everyone’s a year older than him, which shouldn’t matter, but somehow does in his mind. Yet with Minhyuk, it’s easy, or easier, kind of. “Has anyone told you that before?”

“Only on a daily basis. But I try not to let the haters get me down, there’s just not much fun in that.”

“It’s okay, I like it,” Hyungwon says, because it seems like the right thing to say and because it’s genuinely true, and is surprised when he’s suddenly dragged backwards because Minhyuk has stopped stock-still in the middle of the pavement.

Minhyuk’s looking at him strangely, as if trying to figure something out.

“I’m sorry, was that a weird thing to say?” Hyungwon’s face heats up. He’s sure he’s crossed the line with what he’d said previously. Dumb to think that was an appropriate thing to even voice out. “I didn’t mean to make you feel uncomfortable. Ha - I guess that’s why the only person I talk to is the teacher.”

But when he tries to untangle his arm from MInhyuk’s, convinced that the boy’s too weirded out by him to want to continue on with their ramyeon adventure, Minhyuk only holds on tighter and shakes his head. Hyungwon’s sure he’s mistaking the glistening in the older boy’s eyes as something else, because he doesn’t think there’s anything strange or monumental in what he says, thinks that Minhyuk would have heard it a million times from a million other people more important and significant than him, but all Minhyuk says is, “You didn’t, Wonnie. Thank you.”

-

They’re sitting along a park bench now, ramyeon cups steaming beside them as they wait for the noodles to cook. True to his word, Minhyuk had bought a cup of spicy noodles, excitedly pointing out new variants of the flavour being sold in the convenience store as well.

“Tell me more about your hyung,” Minhyuk says, swinging his legs as he does. “I want to know more about my competition.”

“Your competition?”

“No, it’s not a competition,” he continues, ignorant of Hyungwon’s quizzical expression - or perhaps deliberately ignoring Hyungwon’s question, a possibility which the younger boy thinks is more probable. “The fight’s already over since I’m the winner, so I want to know more about the person I crushed.”

“What are you even talking about?”

“The competition to be your best friend, of course,” Minhyuk winks.

Hyungwon scoffs, even as he feels his face heat up. He supposes he should be used to this by now, and wonders if he’ll always have to deal with being embarrassed in some way or other whenever he’s around the older boy. “Excuse me, what makes you think I only have two friends?”

“Okay, then tell me who the other competitors are now, I’m sure I’ll beat them all,” Minhyuk answers simply, as he turns to take a peek at the noodles to see if they’re soft enough.

“I’m afraid I’ll have to disappoint you though. Hyunwoo-hyung’s already got that spot.”

“Hyunwoo, huh? He sounds boring already,” Minhyuk wrinkles his nose in disgust. It’s funny enough an expression that Hyungwon has to bite the side of his cheek to stop himself from laughing out loud. “He’s not much of a best friend, if you gave up going out with him to hang out with me though.”

“Or he’s so secure in his knowledge of already being my best friend that he’s alright if I go out with lesser people,” Hyungwon points out, thinking of Hyunwoo and how unbothered he is as a person. What would he think of this conversation, of how candid Hyungwon was being around Minhyuk? He’d be pleased he thinks, he’s always going on about how Hyungwon barely talks to anyone in school.

Minhyuk pauses, as if considering this as a possibility before waving one of his hands in the air dismissively. “Pass, doesn’t sound legit.”

“You don’t sound so sure of yourself,” Hyungwon raises an eyebrow, and earns a hard nudge in his ribs from Minhyuk for his reply. He yelps, ticklish, swatting the older boy away, landing a soft punch on his arm. He doesn’t expect Minhyuk’s sharp inhale of breath as the boy physically flinches away from him, as if Hyungwon had really hit him hard.

“I’m sorry,” Hyungwon’s heart is suddenly pounding fast, his hand hovering over the spot on Minhyuk’s arm that he’d hit. “Are you okay?”

Minhyuk’s laughter comes a second too late, and rings a little too hollow for Hyungwon’s paranoid, over-sensitive ears. “I’m just playing around, Wonnie. Don’t be such a worry-wart,” he says in a teasing tone, as if the whole thing had been a joke instead. But for that brief moment, Hyungwon had seen the pain in the older boy’s eyes, had seen a flash of fear.

“You know,” he says quietly, looking down, his eyes fixed on Minhyuk’s shoes. He’s never noticed before, but they’re scuffed up and old, the laces fraying at the ends. “Hyunwoo-hyung is really strong. He could help you if you need anything.”

“Even though I’m way above asking my rival for help, I’ll keep that in mind if I’m ever moving house,” Minhyuk answers, his tone light. He tilts his body down so that he’s in Hyungwon’s eye-line, squinting at his expression. “You’re such a frowny person sometimes. Didn’t you learn anything during Bio? The more you frown now, the more wrinkles you have when you grow up.”

It’s hard not to smile at Minhyuk, not when he’s practically upside down, making an exaggerated expression of an old person with wrinkles so deep they can barely open their eyes. “There we go!” Minhyuk calls out excitedly. “Come on, you can’t eat ramyeon with a bad face, if not it’ll taste as sour as you look.”

Hyungwon rolls his eyes, but lifts his head up nonetheless, “You just made that up.”

“Doesn’t make it any less true,” Minhyuk says, as he passes Hyungwon his cup of ramyeon. He clinks his cup of ramyeon against Hyungwon’s, raising it up high after. “Cheers!”

The noodles are hot against his tongue, the soup almost scalding. It’s a strange feeling to be eating something so warm under the afternoon Sun. Minhyuk’s humming to himself as he slurps his noodles, turning to Hyungwon to shoot him a thumbs up.

He doesn’t have to say anything, he doesn’t need to bring up anything awkward again.

But Hyungwon’s an uncomfortable mixture of worry and light-heartedness, and he feels obligated to push the matter, especially if it seems like he’s the only person in the world who has noticed (but Minhyuk’s popular and well-loved by everyone, so that can’t be the case, right?), so he takes the plunge and says, “Kind of hot to eat in long sleeves, don’t you think?”

Minhyuk shrugs, although it’s obvious what Hyungwon’s trying to badly hint at, “It’s all a state of mind. You’ll learn one day when you reach my age.”

“You’re literally just a few months older than me.”

“Don’t push it. If you were born just a month later, you’d have to call me hyung,” laughs Minhyuk, as he takes another mouthful of his noodles. He gestures to Hyungwon for his cup, so that they can switch flavours. Minhyuk’s cup is three-quarters empty whereas he’s barely had two bites of his, it’s not a fair trade but Hyungwon trades him his cup anyway. “You eat really slowly.”

“Or you eat really fast,” answers Hyungwon. He knows Minhyuk is deflecting the conversation, but it’s difficult not to be drawn into bickering with him. “It’s all a state of mind.”

Nodding his head, Minhyuk takes a long drink of soup, before answering, “You learn fast, young one.”

They eat in silence, Minhyuk occasionally making comments about the differences between the flavours and posing questions about potential new noodle ideas, “Pizza ramyeon sounds like it’ll be a good concept, no? I can already imagine all the different types they could do. They should hire me as a taste-tester.”

When he hits the bottom of the cup, Minhyuk makes a small satisfied noise, patting his stomach cheerfully. Hyungwon’s still slowly eating his way through the remnants of Minhyuk’s cup, _he’s right though, this really is a superior flavour_.

“You’re right,” Minhyuk says suddenly, causing Hyungwon to startle slightly, as he wonders how Minhyuk’s become a mind-reader and vocalised his thoughts. It takes a second for him to realise that Minhyuk’s talking about a completely different thing. “It was too hot to eat ramyeon in this.”

Before Hyungwon can say anything, Minhyuk’s pulling off his jacket, tugging at the neck of his t-shirt to fan at himself. There’s are bruises along his arms, patterned in such a way as if someone’s grabbed him hard, a large one purpling at the spot where he’d jostled Minhyuk at earlier.

For a moment, Hyungwon can’t say a word, but he feels Minhyuk’s eyes on him, as if waiting for his next move. It feels like a challenge almost, and Hyungwon isn’t sure what he has to do to pass. He’s still in mid-bite, halfway through a huge mouthful of noodles he’d put in his mouth, and it’s any wonder he hadn’t ended up choking.

“It looks worse than it is,” Minhyuk eventually says evenly, shrugging. He makes to put his jacket back on, but Hyungwon stops him, almost spilling the cup of noodles he had been holding in his rush. He rests his hand lightly on Minhyuk’s shoulder, trying to still him, even as he feels his fingers trembling slightly.

“I meant it, what I said about being here if you need someone to talk to,” he starts, and forces himself to look Minhyuk in the eye. The older boy’s face is expressionless, and Hyungwon decides he doesn’t like that look, that he’ll try his best to cheer the boy up whenever he’s down. After all, isn’t that what Minhyuk seems to do for everyone else around him?

“But also I meant what I said about lending you Hyunwoo-hyung if you need him.”

“Okay Wonnie,” Minhyuk says, still solemn. He sticks his hand out, pinky raised. “But you can’t tell anyone else, promise?”

Hyungwon looks at Minhyuk’s hand, wonders whether he’s doing the right thing when he locks his pinky around Minhyuk’s, and answers, “I promise.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Find me at [@legofroggo](https://twitter.com/legofroggo) on Twitter, and yell at me to finish this! It's far from over and I may or may not be running into a wall


	2. tteokbokki chips

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If Minhyuk is the Sun, then Hyungwon thinks he can be the sky, clear and accepting, a constant presence, whether Minhyuk wants to shine or needs to hide on a cloudy day.

To be honest, Hyungwon isn’t sure why Minhyuk chose to confide in him.

Not when he seems to be surrounded by friends and classmates when he’s at school, people he chats freely with, telling jokes and sharing stories, laughing together every moment they have. It’s not that he’s jealous of how easy social interaction seems to come to everyone else (“You just need some time to grow into who you are,” his parents have told him repeatedly - an idea that Hyunwoo readily echoes), but he’s not sure what makes him any different, any better than the millions of other people Minhyuk seems considerably closer to. 

He doesn’t, of course, ask Minhyuk any of this - it’s a weird and self-pitying question, too self-absorbed and insignificant when Minhyuk appears in his doorstep for the third time at night, an arm wrapped around his stomach, and a backpack slung on his shoulder. It’s only 8pm, much earlier than the other times he’s dropped by. 

“Do you think it’s okay if I stayed tonight?” he asks. 

Framed against the streetlights behind him, the night sky dark as ink, Minhyuk looks small and fragile, so different from the boisterous joker he is at school. He’s shifting his weight from one foot to the other, as if ready to bolt at any moment.

Hyungwon nods, and gestures for Minhyuk to pass him his backpack. “My parents are home tonight, but I can tell them we’re working on a project.”

“Thanks Wonwonnie,” Minhyuk replies. Hyungwon frowns, finally realising what’s different about Minhyuk this time. There’s no smile on his face and he sounds as if his batteries have run out. When Minhyuk takes a step closer to pass Hyungwon his back-pack, he sees dark circles under the older boy’s eyes - he hadn’t noticed this in school, which is odd, considering how closely he watches the boy. 

“Are you okay?” Hyungwon asks, just as his mother calls out from behind him, “Who’s that at the door?”

Hyungwon turns around trying to stall his mother from coming, but she’s already peeked her head out from behind the door, a grin on her face when she sees that it’s a boy around Hyungwon’s age.

“Good evening ajumeoni,” Minhyuk greets brightly, and Hyungwon doesn’t need to turn to look at him to know that he’s got on the smile he always has on at school, the one that draws people to him. “I’m sorry for disturbing your family so late.”

“Minhyuk’s my classmate,” Hyungwon cuts in. It only takes a glance to see that the older boy is exhausted, something that thankfully his less-Minhyuk-astute mother does not recognise. “We’re supposed to work on a project together, and I forgot to tell you that he was coming over so we could discuss it.”

“Oh! From school?” his mother says, she looks so pleased and proud to find out that Hyungwon’s actually made friends with his classmates that Hyungwon doesn’t know if he should feel insulted. “That’s no problem at all, come on in.”

Minhyuk bows once, before stepping into his house, pausing only to greet Hyungwon’s father with another bow. “Nice to meet you, I’m Lee Minhyuk, Hyungwon’s classmate.” 

“I didn’t know Hyungwon had friends from school,” his father says in response to this, leaning in to take a close look at Minhyuk. There’s a note of humourous suspicion in his father’s voice, which Hyungwon knows Minhyuk doesn’t miss by the way his eyes twinkle just the slightest in amusement. 

“Everyone thinks Hyungwon’s cool,” Minhyuk answers very sincerely, still looking like the bright Minhyuk everyone knows in class. Charmed by Minhyuk for some reason (although honestly, it’s hard not to be), his father bursts into a hearty guffaw, clasping the boy on the back.   

“We’ve a project to work on,” Hyungwon says quickly, before his father has the chance to say anything else. As friendly as his parents are, he doesn’t think it’s the best idea to have Minhyuk be peppered with any other questions, not when he looks like he’s about to drop dead on his feet. “We’ll be in my room.”

Not waiting for his parents to reply, he shepherds Minhyuk into his room, careful not to jostle the older boy too much. As soon as the door is closed safely behind them, before Hyungwon even has the time to switch on the lights, Minhyuk collapses face-down onto his bed without another word. 

“Hey, are you okay?” Hyungwon asks, an edge of panic in his voice. He darts a glance at the door, wondering if he should yell to get his parents in to help. What’s the point of having two doctors as parents if you don’t use them to resuscitate your possibly grievously injured friend, right? 

Minhyuk turns his head to the side to breathe, “I’m fine. Just really sleepy, Wonnie.” 

“What happened at home?” Hyungwon sits himself on the floor, leaning against the bed frame. He shifts slightly, so that he’s facing Minhyuk, whose eyes are still closed. 

“I don’t think I want to talk about it,” Minhyuk turns back, burying his head in Hyungwon’s pillow.

Nudging Minhyuk’s leg with his shoulder, Hyungwon tries for a playful tone, but isn’t sure how convincingly light-hearted he sounds, “We made a pinky-promise. You can’t go back on it.” 

“Tired.” 

“Doctor’s orders though, you can’t argue with that.” 

“You’re not a real doctor.” 

“No, but I could be someday.”

“Is that what you want to do, study medicine like your parents?” Minhyuk turns his head back to look at Hyungwon. His eyes are wide, genuinely curious.

“I don’t know, I haven’t really thought about it much.” 

“Do you think you can make this stop hurting then?” Minhyuk rolls and lifts the bottom of his jacket and shirt up together. His chest is purple and blue and red, and it doesn’t make any sense for these colours to be on Minhyuk’s body, he doesn’t even want to imagine the situation that led to these bruises. Hyungwon feels like throwing up, but he holds it in, doesn’t let any of the nausea show on his face because he knows Minhyuk’s watching for a reaction.

“My medical opinion says,” Hyungwon begins, trying to keep his voice from shaking. He digs his fingernails deep into his palm, and tears his gaze away from the bruises to meet Minhyuk in the eyes. Apart from the nausea, a wave of anger hits him. How could anyone do this, much less to this boy who lit up the room with his very presence? “Maybe you should tell me what happened, and then I can get Hyunwoo hyung to avenge you.”

“It’s hard for me to believe that you’ve a hyung that scary.”

“He’s scary when people he cares about get hurt.”

“He doesn’t know me though,” Minhyuk says, as he props himself up with one elbow so that he can better face Hyungwon.

“Doesn’t matter, he knows I care about you.”

The truth is, he’s not sure what to tell Hyunwoo.

He doesn’t quite know how to describe his relationship with Minhyuk. Are they friends? They must be, since Minhyuk’s lying in his bed, with half his shirt off. But then again, it’s not like they talk much in school, it’s not like they’ve hung out, apart from that one time when they went to get ramyeon.

Yet, Hyungwon can’t deny that Minhyuk’s wormed his way into his life. Honestly, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that Hyungwon cares for Minhyuk more than he would for any other classmate, any other acquaintance. He doesn’t know why or how he’s come to feel so strongly protective over Minhyuk, even despite the boy being technically older than him, but he knows that he would try his best to keep Minhyuk safe, to give him somewhere safe to rest in.

“I’m that important, huh?” Minhyuk’s now smirking, looking more like the usual Minhyuk that he knows.

Hyungwon makes a show of rolling his eyes, even though all he feels is relief that at least Minhyuk seems like he’s cheered up considerably, “Stop looking so pleased.”

“You’re so cute sometimes.”

“I realise. You’ve said that in almost every single conversation we’ve had,” Hyungwon points out, dead-pan, even as he feels the now increasingly familiar feeling of his face heating up.

“Doesn’t make it any less true.”

Hyungwon clears his throat, not sure whether he should taking whatever the other boy is saying seriously. “Are you sure you don’t want my parents to look at this by the way?” he asks, eyeing the bruises, feels the bile rise up in his throat again.

For the first time in the evening, Minhyuk looks panicked, pushing himself up, as if ready to sprint to the door if Hyungwon even moved an inch. “You promised!”

“I won’t say anything,” Hyungwon says, as he reaches over to place his hand over Minhyuk’s. It’s cold to touch, like he’d just stepped out of a winter storm, and somehow their fingers end up almost intertwined. Minhyuk stills, and Hyungwon suddenly realises how possibly odd and weird his action may have come across.

“Let me get you some ointment,” he adds, more as an excuse for pull his hand away, making to stand up. But Minhyuk reaches out quick, and pulls him back, his fingers around the crook of Hyungwon’s elbow.

“It doesn’t hurt at all,” the boy says, his grip strong. “Just stay with me.”

“I’ll be right back, don’t worry,” Hyungwon says, slightly startled by how Minhyuk’s grip grows tighter in response. He shakes his head, and pulls Hyungwon backwards. With his precarious position, halfway through standing up, Hyungwon loses balance and falls backwards onto the bed, crashing into Minhyuk.

The older boy lets out a loud hiss of pain as Hyungwon accidentally elbows him in the ribs, and he curls up, pressing his forehead against Hyungwon’s back. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, are you okay?” Hyungwon panics, not sure if he should turn around to check if Minhyuk is fine, not wanting to accidentally hurt him again. Another wave of anxiety and fear surge through him. How did he think he’d be capable of helping Minhyuk, when he didn’t even know anything himself?

“Min, I re - really think getting my parents in will make you feel better,” his words come out in stutters, his heart is in his throat. “I- I don’t think I can do anything.”

What he doesn’t expect is for Minhyuk to start laughing or for him to throw an arm around his waist, to pull Hyungwon closer, “Min, huh?”

“Minhyuk.”

“It’s okay, Min is cute. I like it.” He’s close enough that Hyungwon can feel the breath of his words against the back of his neck, Hyungwon isn’t sure how to respond so he doesn’t. Minhyuk’s forehead is pressed against his back, his arm loose around Hyungwon’s waist.

And although the first instinct Hyungwon has is to untangle himself from Minhyuk’s hold, his body ready to escape, Minhyuk says, the words pressed against Hyungwon’s back, “Just stay here for a while.”

Hyungwon nods. He doesn’t think he’s capable of speaking anyway, not with the number of thoughts running in his head _you need to see someone who actually knows how to help you_ , _this is too big for just me alone,_ but Minhyuk just shifts closer and lets out a sigh, so bone-tired and heavy, that Hyungwon knows it’s not the right time to voice out any of these worries.

With the moonlight shining through his window, the muted sounds of the cars zooming past on the roads outside, the silence is comfortable, and he feels himself slowly sinking into the stillness.

It could have been a few minutes or maybe an hour, but Hyungwon wakes up to the sound of knocking on his room door. From behind him, he can hear Minhyuk breathing evenly, and guesses that the older boy had fallen asleep as well. As carefully as he can, he extracts himself from Minhyuk’s hold. Minhyuk stirs a little, mumbling something in his sleep, but his eyes remain closed.

The knocking comes again. Hyungwon stumbles over Minhyuk’s backpack as he makes his way to the door in the dark. He hesitates a second, then flips on the light switch, wincing at the sudden burst of light. Apparently still deep in sleep, Minhyuk has no reaction whatsoever, somehow already curled up tight in Hyungwon’s comforter.

The clock hanging on his wall says it’s 10.59pm. Had they really been asleep for that long?

“Yup?” he says, as he opens the door. It’s his mother, a flask of water and two cups in her hands.

“It’s getting quite late. Does Minhyuk need to head home?”

Hyungwon shifts slightly, trying to block his mother from peering into his room. He doesn’t know why he feels guilty, like he’s hiding a big secret from her. “Actually,” he begins, and for a brief moment, he’s tempted to tell her everything, _I think Minhyuk’s facing some trouble at home, and I don’t know how to help him_. But he remembers the panic in Minhyuk’s eyes, and knows he can’t say a word. “We lost track of time, and the bus to his house stopped 15 minutes ago. Is it okay if he stays over?”

His mother breaks into a smile, and Hyungwon guesses it’s because his parents have had many whispered discussions about him, exchanging their fears of why Hyungwon seems to have no friends apart from gentle, kind Hyunwoo, how he isolates himself from the rest of his classmates. “That’s no problem at all. Do you want me to phone his parents?”

Hyungwon shakes his head, so violently that his mother raises an eyebrow, “That’s alright, he’ll send them a text.”

“Don’t stay up too late talking then!” his mother says, although from the pride and excitement in her tone, he’s sure she’s hoping that they end up talking through the night, and end up with sore throats the next day.

“Goodnight eomma.”

“Goodnight, love you.”

“I love you too,” Hyungwon answers, giving his mother a hug. She hands him the water and cups, before leaving for the master bedroom.

“That’s really sweet,” comes a voice from behind him, and Hyungwon literally jumps in fright, almost dropping the flask of water in his shock.

He spins around, and comes face to face with a suddenly wide-awake Minhyuk. How the boy had got up so silently from his bed when he looked dead to the world just a few minutes ago is beyond him, but Minhyuk’s grinning devilishly, as if he hadn’t just given Hyungwon a heart attack. “Don’t do that!”

“Your mum is really nice,” is all Minhyuk says, and there’s a note of wistfulness in his tone that Hyungwon wants to think he’s imagined - just like how he wishes the bruises under Minhyuk’s shirt are all imagined too. “Your dad too.”

“They’re probably celebrating right now.” Hyungwon places the flask of water and two glasses, and turns around to see that Minhyuk’s flopped back down on his bed, hugging his pillow to his chest. “Only Hyunwoo hyung’s ever stayed over before.”

Minhyuk scoffs dismissively, “Please, I’m sure they know I’m way cooler than this Hyunwoo loser.”

Padding over to his closet, Hyungwon rolls his eyes, “You haven’t even met hyung yet.”

“I don’t do charity.” 

“I’ve never noticed how unnecessarily competitive you are,” answers Hyungwon, as he pulls out the sleeping bag he’s buried deep in the recesses of the closet, gives it a sniff. Doesn’t smell as musty as he expected, he unrolls the sleeping bag and lays it on the ground.

Finally registering Hyungwon’s actions, Minhyuk sits up, his tone sharp, “What are you doing?”

“Getting ready to sleep? I don’t know about you but I’m exhausted,” answers Hyungwon, his hand on the light switch.

Minhyuk pouts, and kicks the sleeping bag, so that it bunches up into a sad lump looking like a deflated balloon, “What’s this for then?”

“Don’t worry, it’s for me,” answers Hyungwon wryly. “I’m not going to make you sleep on the ground, I do have some manners you know.”

“There’s enough space on the bed for two of us,” points out Minhyuk in such a matter of fact tone that Hyungwon isn’t sure if he heard him right the first time. It takes a second for it to register that Minhyuk is in fact a) not joking and b) waiting for a reply, and Hyungwon feels his face heat up again.

Minhyuk’s watching him, a mischievous smile slowly creeping across his face. Panicking, although he’s not too sure why he is, he flips the lights off, plunging the room in darkness to buy some time.

It doesn’t quite help because in the moonlight, coming in through the window behind, Minhyuk still looks like a Cheshire cat, always looking as if he’s in on a joke Hyungwon hasn’t caught up on yet. That’s alright because Hyungwon is starting to think that he’ll never catch up, that Minhyuk will always catch him off guard no matter how well he ends up knowing him.

“So you’re the one propositioning me now?” says Hyungwon in the end, which would have been a witty reply if not for the fact that it took him 2 minutes to finally come up with an answer.

Minhyuk laughs delightedly, patting the space next to him on Hyungwon’s bed, “Hey, we’re in your bed, not mine.”

“I need to warn you, I probably snore in my sleep,” Hyungwon says, trying to sound cool in a way that he most certainly does not feel, as he sits down on the bed, back facing Minhyuk. To be fair, it’s not like they weren’t sleeping in his bed together just an hour ago. _Sleeping together, oh God._ There’s nothing different about it now, except that this time, it’s a conscious deliberate going to sleep together. _Now you’re just making it weird for yourself Chae._

Minhyuk leans over, propping his head on Hyungwon’s shoulder, “I’m sure I’ll survive.”

-

Unsurprisingly, it takes Hyungwon longer to fall asleep than it takes Minhyuk, who’s seemingly out like a light as soon as the two have found comfortable positions on Hyungwon’s bed. There’s enough space for the two of them, given that they’re both two skinny teenage boys on a rather large bed (one of Hyungwon’s crowning achievement in life is the moment he convinced his parents to buy him a Queen-sized bed, which he immediately spent the subsequent weekend lazing about in).

As much as he knows it’s weird to, Hyungwon turns around to look at Minhyuk, who looks like he’s deep in sleep. His breathing is quiet and even, his brow furrowed in a slight frown as if disagreeing with something in his dreams. It’s silly to notice that he’s never seen Minhyuk this still and peaceful, because of course he would be still, he’s asleep, but Hyungwon still notes it down, how gentle Minhyuk looks in his sleep. This different Minhyuk that maybe only Hyungwon is privy to, that he secrets away like a prized treasure in a corner of his mind.

His gaze drops to Minhyuk’s arms. Minhyuk had taken off his jacket before they’d gone to bed, and Hyungwon’s heart had sunk when he’d seen the purpling of bruises going up the boy’s arms. No matter what he did promise Minhyuk, Hyungwon knows logically, he should tell someone, that this is something too large for a 13 year old to deal with. His parents have shared too many incidents at the ER, their voices shaking with anger and disgust, of children with broken arms and bleeding heads, too many close calls averted thanks to concerned neighbours. _You won’t believe the things that some parents do to their children_ , they’ve said.

Hyungwon’s never quite understood what they meant until now. _It’s terrible how sometimes these children end up going back to their parents, because there’s no one else around_ , his father had once said over dinner. Hyungwon had only noted his words in that detached sort of way you do when it’s about an issue that doesn’t particularly concern you.

He should tell his parents, he really should. No matter how angry Minhyuk may be after, it’s for the best that he does.

Perhaps it’s because he’s lost in his thoughts, his eyes transfixed by the bruises, that he doesn’t realise that Minhyuk’s breathing has changed, “Penny?”

Startled, Hyungwon looks up, at an awake Minhyuk, who’s watching him intently. “For your thoughts,” Minhyuk continues, his eyes wide.

They’re about an arm’s length apart, and Hyungwon’s reply comes out barely louder than a whisper, “You can tell me if you need to.”

Minhyuk’s gaze doesn’t falter, as if long expecting Hyungwon to ask, but he stays quiet. In the midnight silence, it feels like they could be the only two people left in the entire world, that they could create anything they wanted out of the inky night. And if Hyungwon could, he would fashion a world where none of this is happening, where Minhyuk would never be hurt. They wouldn’t be friends because Minhyuk would never have had a reason to show up at his door, but Hyungwon doesn’t mind if it means Minhyuk would always feel safe.

“My mum’s just going through a hard time after my dad left,” Minhyuk says eventually but Hyungwon can see through the feigned nonchalance in his words. “She’ll get over it.”

“And in the meantime?”

“She just gets a bit carried away when she’s in the heat of the moment. But once she realises, she always stops,” the words are well-worn, delivered so smoothly that Hyungwon can imagine Minhyuk repeating them in his mind a million times before, even though he doesn’t sound very convinced by what he’s saying. “She says sorry, you know, that she doesn’t mean it and she still lo - loves me and all that nonsense.”

“I can’t blame her. It must really suck to be cheated on, for your husband to run off with another lady that’s a million years younger,” he looks so far away from the present that it frightens Hyungwon a little. The small space between their bodies has expanded into a gulf, and Hyungwon wonders if he stretches out his hand, will he be able to reach Minhyuk, will he be a solid presence. “My dad used to say I look just like him, so maybe that’s just how she’s venting. It’s alright then. What are your children for if you can’t use them as you need, right?”

“Min -” Hyungwon reaches out. For an instant, his heart skips a beat when all there is is empty air, but it’s just for a moment, and he makes contact with Minhyuk’s wrist.

He startles, coming out of his thoughts, and his eyes are clear and focused, his tone urgent, as he says, “You can’t tell anyone. I’m the only person she has right now.”

“Then what about you?”

“I have you, don’t I?” Minhyuk says this so simply, like it’s the most logical thing in the world. Hyungwon doesn’t know why the older boy trusts him so much, how they’ve gotten into this situation. How he could have gone to any other student in their class, all these others whom he’s had more conversations with, whom he seemed infinitely closer to, yet here they are, just a breath apart.

_You could have gone to anyone else._

It doesn’t matter, Hyungwon thinks, what strange butterfly wings may have led to this moment in time, because with Minhyuk looking at him, with such steady faith in his eyes, there’s no doubting the truth in his words.

“Yea, you do.”

-

The morning after, they wake up with their legs tangled up in each other’s, somehow having gravitated to each other over the course of the night. Hyungwon would have been embarrassed by this, if he weren’t distracted by the raging headache he has when he finally forces himself awake.

“You weren’t kidding about being hard to wake up,” Minhyuk comments. “I probably flicked your forehead five times, and you didn’t even move.”

“And that explains the headache,” grumbles Hyungwon, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. Even so, he’s glad to see Minhyuk infinitely more cheerful, compared to the night before. Although his expression sours when Hyungwon reminds him that they both need to get ready for school.

It’s only later when they’ve reached school that the oddity of the night begins to sink in. On the multiple times that Hyunwoo hyung had stayed over, he’d never actually slept in Hyungwon’s bed, the two always taking turns to camp out in the sleeping bag. Was it weird that he’d done so with Minhyuk? Or was that just a normal thing that friends did when they showed up bruised all over after their mum has beaten them up? He’s sure Hyunwoo hyung wouldn’t have had any experience dealing with the latter situation, but thinks maybe it’s time to text his hyung and ask him for his opinion.

(There’s another niggling question that tugs at the corner of his mind, a conversation that his parents once had with him about girls liking girls and boys liking boys and love being love no matter the form, but he puts that firmly out of his mind because it’s not even something that is remotely relevant to the entire situation. He just wants to make sure that Minhyuk has a safe space to rest in if he needs it, that’s all there is to it.)

_Don’t think so much_ , he tells himself, but the questions don’t stop bouncing around in his head the whole morning. It must show because no sooner after the second period starts does a note from Minhyuk land on his desk, _You look like you’re about to throw up_ , it says, along with a very bad doodle of what Hyungwon guesses is supposed to be him bending over a bucket and puking his guts out.

_It’s the after effects of having a concussion in the morning_ , Hyungwon answers, pleased with his wit this time.

Minhyuk makes sure that Hyungwon is watching as he crumples the note when it finally reaches him, sticking out his tongue.

“Do you like tteokbokki chips?” Minhyuk asks, bounding over to Hyungwon’s desk when the school bell rings at the end of the day.

“They’re alright I guess,” Hyungwon answers, shrugging non-committedly.

While he’s had the rest of the day to _not_ think about the night before, it’s difficult to look at Minhyuk directly, without his thoughts getting all mixed up. It had felt natural in the cover of the night to tell Minhyuk everything that he had said, and he had meant it when he promised (was it a promise?) Minhyuk that he would be there for him, but thinking back on the conversation in the full daylight of their classroom makes Hyungwon feel weirdly exposed.

Minhyuk leans across Hyungwon’s desk to peer closely at the younger boy, “You still look weird.”

“ _You_ look weird,” splutters Hyungwon, kicking his chair backwards, jerking away. The legs of the chair clatter noisily against the floor, and some of their classmates turn towards them, curious.

“I was going to bring them next time. But maybe not,” Minhyuk frowns, before walking off.

It takes a moment for his words to sink in, and Hyungwon’s sprinting out of his chair, running after Minhyuk in the hallway. “Tteokbokki chips are great,” he says, rounding to a stop in front of the older boy, arms stretched out to keep him from walking away.

Minhyuk considers him for a second with an eerily blank expression, before he breaks out into a smile. “Okay, for next time then,” he says, extending a pinky finger.

“For next time,” Hyungwon echoes, as a smile breaks out across his face as well. It’s impossible not to when Minhyuk looks like the Sun on a clear blue summer’s day. He hooks his pinky around Minhyuk’s.

Whatever questions he has, the mess of thoughts swirling around in his mind, it’s silly how he’s forgotten what’s most important of all: Minhyuk, and making sure he never has to feel alone.

And if Minhyuk is the Sun, then Hyungwon thinks he can be the sky, clear and accepting, a constant presence, whether Minhyuk wants to shine or needs to hide on a cloudy day.

-

It takes a week for Minhyuk’s bruises to start fading from his chest. He knows this because Minhyuk follows him home from school a few days later, and it’s only in the safe space of his room, that Hyungwon is able to ask, “Are your bruises okay?”

The tips of Hyungwon’s ears are a bright red when Minhyuk rolls his eyes exaggeratedly and lifts his shirt, as he says, “Take a look for yourself Dr Wonnie.”

“You can just tell me!” Hyungwon answers, caught in between wanting to examine if the bruises really have gotten better and not actually wanting to look, all while Minhyuk is smirking, clearly relishing his discomfort. “I don’t need to see for myself!”

That doesn’t stop Minhyuk from continuing to do so whenever Hyungwon asks after him, and so, that’s how Hyungwon knows for a fact that the purples and reds have started fading after a week, because somehow or other, it becomes an unspoken agreement that Minhyuk’s over at Hyungwon’s house every other day once school ends, especially on the days that he doesn’t have any hagwon sessions.

“Bet you never used to see your Hyunwoo hyung as often as this,” Minhyuk boasts. Having already fulfilled his daily quota of traumatising Hyungwon as part of the obligatory bruise inspection, he’s sitting on Hyungwon’s bed, a comic book on his lap. “Hope he knows that he’s been utterly defeated.”

Long given up on trying to tell Minhyuk that this competition doesn’t quite exist, Hyungwon just nods his head. “You should probably get started on the homework from today,” he says from his desk.

“Tsk, you’re such a nerd,” answers Minhyuk, but all the same, takes out the work books from his bag. “Do you even remember what we’re supposed to do?”

And so, somehow or other, it just becomes accepted that Minhyuk’s welcomed at the Chae household. Tickled by how Minhyuk and Hyunwoo seem to be polar opposites, Hyungwon’s parents never refuse Hyungwon when he tells them that Minhyuk is coming over, always willing to buy or prepare an extra portion of food if he says Minhyuk would be joining them for dinner.

Hyungwon doesn’t think they’ll mind if Minhyuk sleeps over again. _You can stay as long as you need_ , Hyungwon wants to tell him, because Minhyuk seems to linger in the house as long as he possibly can before going home, but he doesn’t know how to get the words out.

“Minhyuk-ah, don’t your parents miss you at home?” his mother asks one day over dinner. It’s the third day in a row that week that he’s stayed to eat, and a month since he had first slept over. “You’re over all the time.”

Apart from the check in on the bruises, Minhyuk and Hyungwon don’t talk about Minhyuk’s mother nor of anything mentioned that night. It suits them both fine, it seems, since Minhyuk has yet to uncover any new injuries. _He’s perfectly fine now_ , Hyungwon tells himself, trying to soothe the prickle of anxiety that occasionally springs up.

However, Hyungwon doesn’t miss the way Minhyuk freezes, his chopsticks suspended over his plate like a lost bird that’s suddenly been separated from the rest of its flock in mid-flight. It goes on for a moment too long, but his mother hasn’t noticed.

“His parents are busy at work so they don’t usually have dinner at home,” answers Hyungwon quickly, nudging the older boy under the table. Minhyuk remains motionless, his gaze fixed on his plate of food. Hyungwon reaches over to his plate, to pick out the cucumbers from his serving of japchae and dumps it onto his own. He’s not the biggest fan of cucumbers, but at least they’re not _his_ mortal enemy. The action seems to have caught Minhyuk’s attention, and he watches as Hyungwon transfers the offending strands of vegetables onto his own plate, his eyes following the repeated motion. “Min’s been living off convenience store ramyeon.”

“Oh dear, you’re welcome to have dinner with us anytime,” Hyungwon’s mother says so sincerely that Minhyuk looks up to see a smile on her face, and his posture finally relaxes. What Hyungwon loves most about his mother, apart from her cooking, is her ability to calm anyone down, whether consciously or not. It’s a skill, probably picked up from and honed by her rounds at the hospital, and Hyungwon’s biased, he’s sure, but he thinks his mother is one of the kindest persons he knows in the world.

His father mirrors the smile from across the table, “Don’t worry about staying too late. I’m sure Hyungwon doesn’t mind sharing his room if it’s too dark to get home.”

“Thank you,” Minhyuk says, a small smile on his face.

Hyungwon is still learning how to read all the different expressions Minhyuk has, but this smile seems to translate into _safe_ and _home_ , and he thinks this could be his favourite look of all.

-

“I’m sorry,” is what Minhyuk says, the fourth and last time he shows up unannounced in the middle of the night because of his mother.

It’s been two months since the bruises on his chest have faded and now he’s sporting a black eye, deep and dark as the night behind him, and he’s breathing heavily, as if he’s run all the way over from his house. “I thought she was doing better, but she drank too much. It’s just only this though, there’s nothing else.”

Is it lucky or unlucky that Minhyuk usually shows up when his parents are both on night shifts? is the irrational first thought that Hyungwon has, as he ushers Minhyuk into his home, making sure the anger he feels on the inside doesn’t spill out.

“You need to tell someone,” Hyungwon says, when they are both sitting on his bed in his room, as he holds up an ice-pack against Minhyuk’s bruise.

Minhyuk shrugs, tilting his head forward so that the ice-pack covers more of the injury, “I think she’s just started seeing someone.”

“And so?” his reply comes out angrier than he intended, but Minhyuk is unfazed.

“She said she was sorry too, and that this is going to be the last time,” he continues, completely ignoring Hyungwon’s scoff. “It’s probably true. She looked like she meant it this round. Plus she just stopped at this, usually she just goes on and on, it gets a bit boring really.”

“That’s why you’re here at my house, instead of home with her,” points out Hyungwon, sarcasm dripping from his words. He doesn’t know why he’s annoyed by Minhyuk’s blasé attitude. It’s not his fault, but it makes no sense how unconcerned the older boy seems to be.

“You don’t have to be a bitch about it,” snaps Minhyuk, hitting away Hyungwon’s arm and glaring hard at him. It’s such an unexpected action that Hyungwon loses grip of the ice-pack and it sails across his room, landing next to the door with a small _twack._ “I don’t need you to be judgemental and patronising.”

The moment stretches out between them. How does the air feel so heavy with tension, yet so fragile and brittle at the same time? This is a Minhyuk that Hyungwon has yet to meet, one whose glare is both icy and hot, all at once, that makes him feel like the smallest person in the world.

“I’m just trying to look out for you,” Hyungwon says, trying to defend his stance, but all the annoyance and anger has left his body.

The older boy doesn’t react to this, continues to look at Hyungwon in that terrible scornful way.

“Min, I wasn’t –“ he trips over his words. “I promise, I’m sorry.”

Minhyuk’s gaze softens, his eyes almost watery when he says, so quietly, so vulnerably raw that Hyungwon feels as if they are in a space removed from all else, that nothing else but this very moment matters, “I’m sorry for snapping. I just need you to be on my side.”

There’s an unspoken question in Minhyuk’s reply, but he doesn’t even need to ask because the answer tumbles out of Hyungwon’s lips, like a truth always waiting to be told, “Always.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had a rough plot planned out in my head for this story, but honestly, it's sort of growing a life of its own and deviating a lot a lot from it, and now I'm not sure where it's going anymore. The other members will show up eventually ... I think!
> 
> No matter! Please come talk to me at [@legofroggo](https://twitter.com/legofroggo).


	3. burger king meals

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Because as sure as the sky is clear above them on this brilliant sunny day, wherever Minhyuk goes, Hyungwon is sure, is so sure, that he’ll follow.

It turns out that Minhyuk ends up being correct in guessing his mother’s change of heart. The school year ends with barely another incident (“It doesn’t count if she’s just yelling,” Minhyuk says, when Hyungwon asks if his mother is doing better, not entirely believing that everything’s over without them not even doing anything).

“She started going for anger management classes,” Minhyuk brings up one day after school, when the two are in the middle of completing their homework. The end of the first semester is coming up, just a few weeks around the corner, but first, they need to get through their first ever set of examinations as middle schoolers.

Hyungwon looks up from his textbook, “Oh?”

“I don’t know where she got the idea from, but it seems to be working,” he says this cheerfully, as he chews thoughtfully on the back of his pen, but Hyungwon can never get over how easily Minhyuk glosses over the source of his physical injuries. “Probably her boyfriend or whatever.”

“Her boyfriend?”

“Yea, maybe he’ll be my next dad or something,” Minhyuk makes a face at the workbook lying in front of him, and Hyungwon isn’t sure if it’s meant to be directed towards the math question or the thought of a potential new parental figure. “Doesn’t matter, at least she’s a lot calmer now.”

Minhyuk’s unscathed self is proof of this.

To be honest, Hyungwon is relieved. When Minhyuk had appeared on his door-step with the black eye those few months ago, he had told himself, he had _he had to_ go this parents if Minhyuk had another injury. No matter how angry Minhyuk would have been at him, he would tell his parents.

Or at least, that’s what he had told himself, as he watched Minhyuk sleep that night, curled towards Hyungwon on his bed, breathing softly under the covers. In the dark, with the shadows cast over his face, it was impossible to discern the dark bruise under Minhyuk’s eye, and in that moment, Hyungwon could pretend that they were just two classmates, having a sleep-over, after a whole night of binge-watching terrible movies and laughing at cheesy plot lines.

(He knows that, if it came down to it, if Minhyuk really had shown up again with another injury, and looked at him with those pleading eyes, _this is our secret Wonnie, you promised not to tell anyone else_ , he wouldn’t have been able to tell a single soul, no matter how bruised and bleeding the older boy may be.)

“That’s good then,” Hyungwon says evenly, instead of everything else brewing in his head, the doubt he has about the stability of the situation. “As long as everything’s alright now.”

“Everything’s perfect,” answers Minhyuk with a lazy smile on his face as he directs a wink towards Hyungwon.

And perhaps, Hyungwon thinks, watching Minhyuk scribble down in his textbook, brows furrowed in concentration, it really could be.

_Everything will be perfect, as long as I have you next to me._

-

“You know,” says Minhyuk, one day as they’re taking a study break (aka escaping to the convenience store near Hyungwon’s house for ramyeon and snacks), “My dad texted me the other day.”

Hyungwon hates this aspect of MInhyuk, the one who brings up potentially life-changing news in such a blasé way, as if he’s only talking about the weather or the flavour of ramyeon that they’re trying out today (which, for the record, yesterday’s flavour was way better). He knows he doesn’t need to say anything because Minhyuk only brings up his family when it’s something he needs to get off his chest.

“He’s in Seoul now,” Minhyuk continues in the same even tone. “With his girlfriend. They got an apartment in Incheon.”

“That’s a pretty nice place.”

“He said he was sorry for everything that happened, and for only reaching out so late.” Minhyuk pauses, to take a swig of the iced tea that they’d picked up from the store as well, stalling for time probably.

“Did you reply him?” Hyungwon asks, trying to sound neutral, even as he can feel his heartbeat start to pick up.

Minhyuk takes a long while before he answers, and Hyungwon suddenly gets the sense that he’s avoiding looking at him in the eye, “He asked me to come over and stay with him.”

“Like over the summer?” he asks, but there’s a sinking feeling in his stomach, he knows what Minhyuk means.

“Like forever,” Minhyuk says, his tone light, as if he hadn’t just delivered potentially life-changing news. It’s the Sun, Hyungwon thinks, that’s shining too brightly done on them, that’s making him feel like his heart is beating so loudly, he can hear it in his ears.

“I see.”

Minhyuk raises his shoulder in the briefest shadow of a shrug, “I told him I’ll think about it.”

“Did you tell your mum?” Hyungwon blurts out before he can think it through. He cringes, a little, at bringing it up, _insensitive Chae._

“Are you kidding!” Minhyuk laughs, clearly unbothered in the same way that Hyungwon is clearly very bothered, which honestly, Hyungwon should have expected. Minhyuk never seems to take this whole _thing_ (the big A word that rhymes with _refuse_ is a looming cloud that Hyungwon _refuses refuses_ to acknowledge) seriously - something which Hyungwon tries to empathise with but doesn’t quite understand. “She just stopped beating me up, I’m not going to give her a reason to start all over again.”

Perhaps his heart skips a beat, because Hyungwon suddenly feels like all the wind has been knocked out of his lungs. The few weeks of peace, of Minhyuk being blissfully injury free, have lulled him into a false sense of security, but the possibility of the older boy showing up again with injuries too grave to be treated by Hyungwon’s fumbling 13 year old hands becomes very real again. “I think you should do it.”

“What?” For the first time in the conversation, Minhyuk sounds surprised, as if he’d never expected Hyungwon to say this.

“You should go to Seoul with him,” Hyungwon says, trying to sound calmer than he feels. He blinks hard, trying to rid himself of the image of flashing ambulance lights and bloodied sheets that he sometimes wakes up to, like a nightmare he can’t shake off.  “That way you’ll always be saf – I mean, Seoul seems pretty cool.”

There’s an unreadable expression on Minhyuk’s face - just when Hyungwon thinks he’s figured the older boy all out, he’s thrown off again, constantly kept off-balance. He wonders if he’s said the wrong thing, if he was supposed to have told Minhyuk that staying in Gwangju away from his traitorous dad was the better option.

“I lied,” is what Minhyuk says finally.

Choking on air, Hyungwon only manages to splutter out a “What?”

“You should have seen your face, Wonnie,” Minhyuk breaks into a giant smile, reaching into pinch Hyungwon’s cheeks. His grip is strong and Hyungwon doesn’t even bother trying to wave him off, even as he tugs hard teasingly. He’s long given up trying to stop Minhyuk from doing whatever he wants, he doesn’t think there’ll ever be a time when he’ll be able to deny Minhyuk anything. “You looked like you were going to cry.”

“Excuse me?” Hyungwon says, the words coming out jumbled because Minhyuk’s still painfully pulling his face in opposite directions.

“I told him no,” Minhyuk laughs as he lets go to drape an arm around Hyungwon’s shoulder. Even though the air is sticky with heat, Hyungwon doesn’t mind the proximity. He never does. “Seoul sounds lame, plus it’ll be so much hassle to move over.”

“Min – “

“Come on, let’s trade cups. I think you’ll like this one more,” Minhyuk cuts in, breaking their embrace. He gestures for Hyungwon to pass him his cup. “Besides, what was I going to do - just leave you behind? I could never do that.”

As he accepts Hyungwon’s cup, Minhyuk continues, waving his chopsticks around in the air, “We’re stuck together for life now, ramen buddies forever.”

Hyungwon doesn’t know how to describe the feeling that wells up in his chest at the idea of _forever_ , doesn’t think he wants to think too much about what it means to feel this unnameable feeling, so he just nods his head.

He’s stuck in thinking hard about not thinking anything, the noodles clutched in his hand, when Minhyuk leans in, gently nudging him. His tone is soft, softer than Hyungwon’s heard before and Hyungwon files that under the growing list of things that he’s decided not to think so much about, “Wonnie, if you don’t start eating, I’m going to finish your cup as well.”

He can feel Minhyuk’s eyes on him, watching carefully, when he takes his first bite of the traded cup.  It’s seafood flavoured, with little bits of shrimp hidden between the noodles. Hyungwon’s surprised by how much noodles there is left in the traded cup, it’s usually three-quarters empty by the time Minhyuk decides to swap.

“Well?” Minhyuk asks. “It’s good, huh?”

Hyungwon nods, he can’t seem to muster up a verbal reply, not with the number of thoughts going unthought in his head, but Minhyuk doesn’t seem to mind, saying delightedly, “I knew you’d like it. Eat fast Wonnie, or I’ll steal the rest.”

“But that doesn’t matter anyway,” he continues, setting down his finished cup of ramen onto the park bench with a decisive _clunk_. He laughs, as he says, “I’ve got a lifetime ahead to steal your food.”

-

“I can’t believe you’re doing this to me,” Minhyuk grumbles, crossing his arms against his chest. “This is possibly the worst thing in the world that has ever, ever happened to me. And we both know I’ve been through a lot.”

Hyungwon rolls his eyes (ignores the slightest stab of unknown feeling, is it _protectiveness_ or _annoyance_ , at Minhyuk’s thinly veiled allusion, his constant candidness), “Stop being so dramatic.”

“I’d rather be thrown into a pit of fire than have to go through this,” declares Minhyuk, glaring hard at Hyungwon. They are seated in a booth at Burger King, and Hyungwon is starting to think that perhaps this may have been a bad idea, given how much Minhyuk is whining about it. Even so, he can see through the older boy, and knows that he’s been looking forward to today as much as Hyungwon has. “I’m giving him 5 minutes.”

“Ah, I’m only worth 5 minutes of your time?” comes an amused voice from behind them, and Hyungwon turns around to see Hyunwoo, his eyes flattening in that way that it does when he finds something funny. He’s carrying a tray heaving with food: a three-box worth pile of onion rings, three wrapped burgers, two sundae pies, and three drinks. He should have known that his hyung wouldn’t have listened to him about not buying them lunch today. “I don’t think we can finish all of this so fast though.”

Minhyuk’s eyes widen slightly, his attention clearly caught by the unexpected mountain of food, but he doesn’t say anything.

“I hope you’re hungry, but it’s okay if you’re not, because I am,” says Hyunwoo, sliding into the booth. He offers Minhyuk a Whopper burger, and Hyungwon can see that Minhyuk’s struggling to contain himself at the sight of his favourite burger. He’d only mentioned this in passing once in a conversation with Hyunwoo a long time ago, but he shouldn’t be surprised that his hyung remembered. It is, after all, two of Hyunwoo’s soft spots: food and Hyungwon. “Here, this is for you.”

Hyungwon tries to suppress a laugh at how Minhyuk chooses to scrunch up his face in an attempt to look fierce and unfriendly, but ­accepts the burger anyway. “Do I need silver chopsticks to test this for poison?” Minhyuk asks, as he unwraps the burger. “Don’t think I don’t know about how kings get dethroned by people that are jealous of their position.”

Already two mouthfuls into his own burger, Hyunwoo blinks at Minhyuk, and chews thoughtfully. “You could always go next door to get a pair of chopsticks if you really need one,” he says, ignoring the way Minhyuk’s eyes narrow in a glare.

In his defense, Hyungwon had warned his hyung about Minhyuk’s entirely imagined, one-sided competition, which his hyung had only replied with a _hoho I didn’t know my little Hyungwonnie was in such high demand_. Then again, it took a lot more than this to annoy Hyunwoo,

Hyungwon would know, having tried multiple times to no avail over the course of their friendship.

“It’s going to get cold if you don’t start eating,” Hyunwoo continues, and pops an onion ring into his mouth.

“Fine,” Minhyuk shoots back, and takes an unnecessarily aggressive bite. He makes sure to stare at Hyunwoo straight in the eyes as he chews and swallows, “If I die, we’ll all know it’s you.”

“Okay,” Hyunwoo answers easily, taking a sip of soda. “It’s a good way to go. Burger King has good burgers.”

“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell Wonnie for ages!” exclaims Minhyuk, the crumbs of his burger flying everywhere as he waves his hand in excitement. He pauses, as if remembering his hatred of Hyunwoo, and collects himself. “But of course, he listens to me because I’m his best friend.”

“I don’t think he’s ever been to a Burger King with me willingly.”

“Oh, he hasn’t, has he?” Hyungwon has to bite the side of his cheek to keep himself from bursting into laughter at how smug Minhyuk sounds. “Wonnie and I have been to Burger King a million times. It’s our regular place to hang out.”

It’s a bold lie and a classic Minhyuk-level exaggeration, given that the two spend most of their days in Hyungwon’s room, or by the park, scarfing down convenience store ramen. They have, at most, been to Burger King twice, and that was only because Minhyuk had literally hauled him into the fast food restaurant, eager to try a limited edition flavour that had just been released.

Hyunwoo knows this, of course, since Hyungwon texts him all the time about Minhyuk (the question about sleeping together on the same bed, however, is still something he can’t bring himself to ask), but just nods his head, “I see. I guess you’re a lot closer to him than I am.”

Minhyuk pauses, clearly not expecting the turn in conversation. He darts a look at Hyungwon, who quickly rearranges his features into something akin to sincere agreement, before turning back to Hyunwoo. “Are you making fun of me?”

Around another bite of his burger, Hyunwoo shakes his head, and answers “No no. Hyungwon tells me about all the fun things you two get up to. I can tell that he really cares about you.”

“And that I’m his best friend, aren’t I?”

“You definitely are,” Hyunwoo agrees, the corners of his lips tugging upwards in amusement.

There’s another pause in the conversation, as Minhyuk munches on his burger, thinking over what Hyunwoo had just said. Seemingly unbothered by Minhyuk’s sudden silence, Hyunwoo continues with his burger, almost half-way through.

Too nervous and amused to even have started on his own burger, Hyungwon finally unwraps his meal and is about to take his first bite, when Minhyuk scares him half to death by jumping to his feet and extending his hand over the table to Hyunwoo, exuberance loud in his voice, when he practically shouts, “Nice to meet you, I’m Lee Minhyuk.”

As calm and steady as always, Hyunwoo accepts the handshake, “Son Hyunwoo.”

“Now that we’re friends, we can trade embarrassing stories of Wonnie,” says Minhyuk, darting a mischievous look over at Hyungwon. “I can start first, I have so many.”

“He was crying the first time we met,” says Hyunwoo, smiling at Hyungwon.

“Hyung, I was four,” Hyungwon interjects, trying to sound annoyed but he can’t deny that bubbly feeling of happiness that’s filling his chest. He could almost levitate out of his seat right here, right now.

Minhyuk’s grin widens, and he clinks his burger against Hyunwoo’s, reminding Hyungwon of his first meal with Minhyuk, all those weeks ago on the park bench, “I think we definitely can be good friends.”

-

It’s a week later, and school examinations are finally over. An extremely rare occasion, Minhyuk’s busy that afternoon (“I know you’ll miss me Wonnie, but Mark invited me to hang out today. Do you want to come with us? I can ask him if you can join,” Minhyuk says, and then laughs at how unenthused Hyungwon must look. “You’re going to meet hyung? Tell him I said hi and that I’m your best friend, I’ll come find you after!”), so Hyungwon finds himself with Hyunwoo, finally agreeing after months of the latter’s asking to get him to try a session at his dance school.

“I was surprised by how different you and Minhyuk are. You told me in your texts, but ah, I guess it was different seeing it in person,” Hyunwoo says, after the class. The two of them are sitting outside the studio, cooling off in the light evening breeze. Hyungwon’s drenched in sweat, aching in places he didn’t know he could ache. But as much pain as he is in right now, he did have fun, Hyunwoo wasn’t wrong about how much he’d enjoy it. “You know, you never told me how you two became friends.”

Hyungwon’s mind blanks out, and all that he can think of is the first time Minhyuk comes to his house. Even though it’s only been a few months since, time has warped the memory so that he remembers Minhyuk being in more pain than he actually was, hunched over with bruises and cuts.

“Well, it just happened,” is what he manages to say in the end, making a conscious effort not to look his hyung in the eye.

“I can tell when you’re keeping something from me,” Hyunwoo says. HIs tone is casual, and Hyungwon knows he doesn’t mean it as a threat. Of all the years that they’ve been friends, Hyungwon has never been able to keep a secret from Hyunwoo - or has never had a reason to. An only child, Hyunwoo’s the closest to an elder brother Hyungwon has, and he knows the older boy can read him like a book.

Even so, he’s made a promise to Minhyuk. “It’s not really my story to tell.”

“Oh?” Hyungwon can feel the heat of Hyunwoo’s gaze on him, curious, cautious. The words are right there on the tip of his tongue, but he knows he’ll never be able to say it, has made his peace with the fact that Minhyuk’s promise has sealed his lips forever.

“Min’s fine now,” Hyungwon says quickly. “So you don’t need to worry.”

“Okay, but you know I’m always just a text away right?” Hyunwoo sounds slightly unconvinced, and Hyungwon can hear the concern underneath his words. He pats Hyungwon on the shoulder, and flashes him a smile, his eyes forming tiny crescents.

“I know, hyung,” Hyungwon has to smile back, has to wonder how in the world did he end up being friends with one of the kindest persons that ever has to exist. How he managed to get the privilege to call someone like Hyunwoo his (now, second - but he's not going to tell Minhyuk that) best friend. “Thank you.”

-

The year ends quietly, with Hyungwon doing much, much better than he expects, given how much time he spends pretending to study with Minhyuk instead of actually reading any of his textbooks. He’s more than pleasantly surprised to be honest, his lips curving up in a smile as he thinks about how pleased his parents would be when he shows them his results.

“You’re really such a nerd,” exclaims Minhyuk after class, when the teacher announces the top 5 students in class and Hyungwon is one of them. He’s sitting on Hyungwon’s desk, swinging his legs back and forth, waving goodbye to their other classmates as they leave the room. “Maybe all the ramen we ate became brains in your head.”

“More like it’s going to lead to my early death,” Hyungwon says drily, shoving Minhyuk off his desk. Minhyuk lets out an indignant squawk, which turns into laughter when Hyungwon scrambles to his feet to return a bow from a classmate coming by to congratulate Hyungwon on his results.

Despite Minhyuk’s constant, sunny presence by his side, it’s safe to say that Hyungwon’s still frozen around the rest of their classmates. He’s trying though, kind of, in his slow glacial way of warming up to people.

One of the things he’s learning from Minhyuk, that if pressed for a reason, he would name as his favourite thing - or no, maybe _one_ of his favourite things because there are too many to name - is how unafraid Minhyuk is. Whether it’s displaying how he feels about anything or striking up a conversation with a school mate he’s maybe only seen twice, Minhyuk’s unapologetic about whatever he does. _He’s very very loud_ , is what Hyunwoo had texted Hyungwon right after their first meeting at Burger King. _But I like him. You’re more open around him._

Hyungwon hadn’t asked Hyunwoo what he meant by that.

_I can tell that he really cares a lot about you too._

“I don’t care if your minutes exceed, but you have to call me every day okay?” demands Minhyuk. Without even discussing where they’re going after they finally get out of school, they’ve automatically turned towards the direction of the convenience store. Minhyuk’s pouting at Hyungwon, pulling his face into the most pitiful expression he can. “How can you live with yourself, betraying me like this.”

Hyungwon rolls his eyes. Honestly, it wouldn’t be a conversation with Minhyuk if he doesn’t exaggerate at least five times (hah, maybe Minhyuk’s rubbing off on him, and he wonders if he’s left the same impression on Minhyuk, but while Minhyuk is open and free, Hyungwon is closed and quiet, and he doesn’t think these are qualities that would be good for anyone to adopt). “How am I betraying you this time?”

Huffing and making a show of shaking his head, Minhyuk answers, each syllable getting more shrill as he gets more worked up, “Because I didn’t go to Seoul since I didn’t want to leave you behind, but here you are, going to Seoul without me!”

Although he knows Minhyuk is joking, a wave of guilt washes over Hyungwon. Honestly, this has been all that he has been able to think about, ever since his parents sprung the news on him a week ago. “To celebrate the end of your first year, we’ve taken time off for a family holiday,“ is what they had said, their eyes shining, because who wouldn’t be excited for a family holiday?

“We’ll be going to Seoul. It’s been a long while since we’ve gone on a trip together, hasn’t it?” That much is true, between shifts at the hospital, it’s hard enough to have dinner as a family three times a week. Hyungwon feels like the smallest person in the world for not being as excited about the trip as his parents obviously are, and there’s a large part of him that wants to ask _How about we bring Minhyuk along with us on the trip as well? He doesn’t have any plans for summer break._

Objectively, he knows that a week and a half isn’t a long time. But it’s starting to seem like an eternity away, and there’s that needling pinprick of fear that something wrong will happen when he’s gone and Minhyuk would have no one to turn to.

“It’s just for a week, kind of,” Hyungwon says, even though he agrees, he entirely agrees with Minhyuk. It’s a betrayal of the worst kind.

“A week and a half,” corrects Minhyuk sulkily, as Hyungwon knows that he would. He’s kicking a small stone along the pavement, and the pebble skittles ahead in front of them. “A best friend wouldn’t leave their best friend alone for that long.”

“Oh, so now I’m no longer your best friend?”

Minhyuk sticks his tongue out at Hyungwon, “Yea, maybe Hyunwoo-hyung will be.”

“True, hyung loves you.”

“Everyone does.”

Hyungwon has to bite back his instinctive reply of “It’s hard not to.” and he feels a flush creeping up the back of his neck. He chooses instead to cuff Minhyuk on the shoulder. “Come on, I’ll buy you ramen today to make up for it.”

Minhyuk grins, “Buy me ramen for the rest of the week and I’ll forgive you.”

“Fine,” Hyungwon says, sighing dramatically because he knows it cheers Minhyuk up when he acts as if the older boy’s inconvenienced him in any way. “But if one day, I’m broke and hungry, you need to treat me to ramen too.”

“You’re the smart one, not me,” shoots back Minhyuk, wagging his finger dismissively at the idea. “You’ll need to look after me in the future when I’m jobless and lost in life.”

This time, there’s no hesitation, no holding back, in Hyungwon’s reply, “Of course. I always will.”

“Great, I’ll race ya there then!” cheers Minhyuk, and before Hyungwon can answer, he breaks into a sprint towards the store.

It takes a moment for Hyungwon to register that Minhyuk has essentially abandoned him, dashing ahead without a backward glance, then he lets out a laugh and runs after the older boy, because as sure as the sky is clear above them on this brilliant sunny day, wherever Minhyuk goes, Hyungwon is sure, is so sure, that he’ll follow.  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy 2019 everyone! 
> 
> I'm so sorry this took as long as it did, and it's probably not as well put together as the other chapters. I made a promise to myself that I'd update it before 2018 ended but I guess I wasn't able to - whoops!!! On the bright side, Hyunwoo's finally appeared!
> 
> As always, come talk to me on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/legofroggo), I need peer pressure to finish this. To be honest, we haven't even reached the scene which inspired this whole story to begin with, but I hope you enjoyed this chapter all the same.


End file.
